You can’t stop the mighty John Blanco

It’s been an eventful couple of weeks in the National Football League, that’s for sure. Stars have fallen, nobodies have become somebodies, referees have made questionable calls (at best), one conservative coach went a little crazy and somehow the Bills are 2-0!

What’s happening?

For starters, the New England Patriots haven’t lost a beat since losing MVP Tom Brady in the season opener as Matt Cassel has proven to be as steady a backup quarterback as they come.

The kid who hadn’t started a game since high school is undefeated thus far and shows no signs of slowing down in this week against the woeful Miami Dolphins. He has a pretty good chance of leading the Patriots to a 3-0 start before New England hits the bye week.

When the Pats come back from their break, Cassel gets another “warm-up” game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5 before getting his first taste of serious competition against the San Diego Chargers. That game should speak volumes about the post-season future of this year’s boys from Beantown.

Coach Mike Shanahan’s decision at the end of last week’s game against the Chargers also spoke volumes about his faith in his offense. After scoring in the closing seconds of the game to pull to within one point, Denver’s coach opted to play for the win with a two-point conversion instead of the “gimmie” extra point.

His gamble won and the Broncos improved to 2-0. That was something special. You just don’t see that kind of play-calling in professional sports these days. Most coaches (and by most I mean every other coach) would have sent out the kicker and readied the team for overtime.

Not Shanahan. Overtime? What’s overtime? To Shanny, it was just forestalling the inevitable. Maybe he had a hot date after the game. Maybe he just wanted to go home to catch the latest edition of John Gonzales Live. Either way, he made the call that made true fans of sport stand up and applaud.

Of course, if the Jay Cutler’s pass sailed incomplete and the Broncos lost everyone would have called him crazy. Sports talk radio shows in the Mile High City would have been bombarded with “What was he thinking?” calls. Sure, I would’ve complimented Shanahan for his guts, but falling to 1-1 would still have been worse than remaining atop the AFC West.

The loss was a double-whammy for the Chargers. Two plays before, Cutler’s “pass” hit the ground on the 10-yard line for what the replay officials later ruled to be a fumble. San Diego recovered the ball but head referee Ed Hocculi (one of the NFL best, if not THE best) blew his whistle prior to the recovery.

That meant that the Broncos maintained possession of the ball and got another chance at the end zone. The next play resulted in a Denver touchdown which was followed by the “call of all calls.”

And the rest is history.

Local kudos are due for John Blanco, who won out for the second straight week. That’s two cases of Miller Lite for John. I’m not sure how he plans on handling 48 bottles of amber waves, but I’m open to lending a hand. What are friends for, anyway? [B][I](Brad E. Ruszala)[/I][/B]